28-30 September, Rabat

This conference will bring together scholars and researchers in the field of democratisation form Europe, US, and the Arab world to make an assessment of the main paradigms (with a special focus on the transition paradigm) seeking to understand the ongoing political, economic and social transformations in the MENA region and to debate on how to improve our understanding of this multidimensional, and seemingly open-ended transformation process.

The conference is organised by the Center for Studies and Research in Social Sciences (CERSS) in cooperation with EuroMeSCo and IEMed.

The EuroMeSCo Annual Conference “Confronting Violent Extremism in the Euro-Mediterranean” took place on 1-2 June in Barcelona. The event gathered over 150 researchers and practitioners from 22 countries to discuss violent extremism in the Euro-Mediterranean region, its manifestations, drivers, impact and what responses could be developed to confront it.

On 19 May in Brussels, the European Union Institute for Security Studies organised a seminar on Security Sector Reform (SSR) in the Middle East and North Africa. The seminar was organised with support of IEMed and EuroMeSCo.

The seminar gathered practitioners from the field and EU officials in order to discuss the difficulties presented by the SSR in the Southern Neighbourhood and to propose a more comprehensive and tailored approach to SSR in the region.

Projecting a potential government structure for post-conflict Syria is a cumbersome task after forty years of single-family rule. The fragmentation within the Syrian opposition both inside and outside Syria is manifest. Additionally, post-conflict Syria would have to deal with issues such as national reconciliation, protection of minorities, reform of the security sector and reconstruction and development.

The workshop organised by the Global Political Trends Center on 17 May at the Istanbul Kultur University, Atakoy Campus, aimed to explore possible ideas to address those issues.